I'm home--here's what happened

[spinbaby]

Last Monday I went into the hospital for a classic RNY bypass surgery. I chose this particular surgery over the lap band because I have issues with sugar, which RNY addresses better than a band and because RNY is the "gold standard" of bariatric surgery with a long history of success. I also had a large hernia repaired.

I had a serious complication--a pulmonary embolism. For those of you that are now jumping up and down and yelling about the evils of weight-loss surgery, keep in mind that this complication can happen with any surgery and that I needed surgery in any case because of the hernia.

Surgery went well. The next day I was a little short of breath and my blood oxygen kept dipping, but this got better every time I took a dose of pain medication. At that time, the doctor thought, and I agreed, that I was having trouble inhaling deeply because of pain from the hernia repair. My pain medication was upped.

On Wednesday I was due to go home but was still a bit short of breath and felt like I had the flu. They sent me for a CT scan, just in case, and there it was--a small blood clot in the lung. This set off a round of new testing and a heparin drip.

Since then I've experience various levels of shortness of breath and low-grade fever, but have managed to get myself home with supplemental oxygen and have to give myself (very expensive) shots twice a day.

As for the bypass itself, I've barely had time to notice it. I'm surprised at how normal my stomach feels and how much of a non-issue it is. I'm just not particularly hungry. I'm still on the clear liquids phase and doing well with it. I find that I do get a tad hungry now and then, which surprises me, but that my stomach is just fine with sugar-free jello or a popsicle. I haven't been the least bit sick but am also following instructions precisely and plan to keep doing so.

Weight lost so far? Gained 14 pounds. I certainly hope that's water.